1. Plaintiff brought this case against the Philadelphia Housing Authority (the "PHA") and two of its employees
*fn1"
for damages she sustained as a result of defendants' actions in evicting her from her public housing residence. Plaintiff sought declaratory and injunctive relief (including an order reinstating her to public housing) and compensatory and punitive damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; treble damages under the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, 73 P.S. § 201-9.2 (1993) [hereinafter the Unfair Trade Practices Law]; and reasonable attorney's fees.

2. Prior to trial, plaintiff dropped her request to be rehoused in PHA property. After a bench trial lasting two half-days, the Court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff, awarding her $ 1,000 for lost or destroyed furniture, $ 872 representing the difference between the amount of rent plaintiff paid in private housing and the rent plaintiff was paying at PHA housing from the time of her eviction to the date of judgment, and $ 1,200 for humiliation, distress, and embarrassment caused by the PHA's conduct during the eviction. See Transcript of Op. at 2-5 (June 8, 1993). The Court denied the request for punitive damages and for relief under the Unfair Trade Practices Law. See id. at 5.
*fn2"

6. The hourly rate used in calculating the lodestar should be "'the market rate[] in the relevant community.'" Gulfstream III Assocs., Inc. v. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., 995 F.2d 414, 422 (3d Cir. 1993) (quoting Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 895, 79 L. Ed. 2d 891, 104 S. Ct. 1541 (1984)). The "burden is on the fee applicant to produce satisfactory evidence--in addition to the attorney's own affidavits--that the requested rates are in line with those prevailing in the community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation." Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n.11. "The party opposing the fee award then has the burden to challenge, by affidavit or brief with sufficient specificity to give fee applicants notice, the reasonableness of the requested fee." Rode v. Dellarciprete, 892 F.2d 1177, 1183 (3d Cir. 1990) (citing Bell v. United Princeton Properties, Inc., 884 F.2d 713 (3d Cir. 1989)).

7. In this case, plaintiff's counsel requests a fee of $ 175.00 per hour. See Decl. of Peter D. Schneider at 2. Defendants claim that while plaintiff's counsel may have had vast experience in "housing issues," he has "only limited experience with due process [issues]," Defs.' Mem. in Opp'n at 5, the issue upon which plaintiff ultimately prevailed.

8. The Court notes that plaintiff's counsel is employed by Community Legal Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ("CLS"), that he has nine years of litigation experience in the federal courts, and that under the fee schedule developed by CLS, plaintiff's counsel has been assigned a billing rate of $ 175.00 per hour. The CLS schedule has been approvingly cited by the Third Circuit as being well developed and has been found by this Court to be a "fair reflection of the prevailing market rates in Philadelphia." Swaayze v. Philadelphia Housing Auth., No. CIV 91-2982, 1992 WL 81598, at *2 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 16, 1992). Therefore, the Court finds that the rate of $ 175.00 "falls within the purview of the prevailing rates charged in this community for similar work performed by attorneys of comparable skill, experience, and reputation." Liquid Glass Enters., Inc. v. Liquid Glass Prods. Int'l, Inc., No. CIV 89-6324, 1993 WL 315644, at *6 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 16, 1993) (citing Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n.11); see, e.g., Patriot Party of Pennsylvania v. Mitchell, No. CIV 93-2257, 1993 WL 313667, at *3 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 16, 1993) (civil rights attorney awarded $ 175.00 as a reasonable hourly rate), appeal filed, No. 93-1832 (3d Cir. Aug. 26, 1993).

10. Defendants have objected specifically to certain time entries as being excessive. See Defs.' Mem. in Opp'n at 6-7. The court has wide discretion to reduce fees in light of objections. See Bell, 884 F.2d at 721. The level of skill and experience claimed by counsel not only informs the Court's judgment as to the appropriate hourly fee but also helps establish how much time counsel reasonably should have spent in performing a particular task. To put it another way, normally the higher the allowed hourly rate commanded based upon skill and experience, the shorter the time it should require an attorney to perform a particular task. The Court agrees that based upon plaintiff's counsel's level of skill and experience, which commands a rate of $ 175 per hour, some of the time spent by counsel was clearly excessive and should be reduced as follows:

a. Page 1, lines 4-9,
*fn4"
5.35 hours for drafting the complaint. The Court will reduce the time to 2.0 hours.

b. Page 2, line 13 and Page 3, line 1, 4.16 hours for attendance at bankruptcy hearing on a matter plaintiff's counsel believed was related to the instant case. That the matter ultimately turned out to be unrelated only became clear at the conclusion of the instant matter. The Court will not second guess the professional judgment of counsel based on the benefit of hindsight. No reduction will be made to this request.

d. Page 4, lines 5-6, 9.92 hours for drafting memorandum in opposition to motion to compel. The Court will reduce the time to 3 hours.

e. Page 4, lines 7, 9-11, and 13, 9.0 hours for drafting memorandum in opposition to defendants' summary judgment motion. The Court will reduce the time to 4.5 hours.

f. Page 5, lines 8-11, 14 and 15, 4.5 hours for preparing memorandum of law in opposition to motion to amend. The Court will reduce the time to 2.25 hours.

g. Page 7, line 10, 2.25 hours for the second trial date. The Court will disallow the time on the basis that the second trial date was necessitated by plaintiff's own unavailability on the first trial date.

14. The Supreme Court has instructed that in cases where a plaintiff is pursuing multiple theories of recovery the district courts should disallow fees for time spent by counsel on claims which were either unsuccessful or unrelated to the successful claims. See id. at 434-35 (no fees may be recovered based on work performed on unsuccessful claims which were based on distinctively different facts and legal theories from those claims on which plaintiff prevailed). However, where claims are factually or legally related, it is difficult to determine which portion of the time spent by counsel bears upon which claim. See, e.g., Peters v. Delaware River Port Auth., No. CIV 91-6814, slip op. at 7 (E.D. Pa. August 13, 1993) (allowing attorney's fees for time spent in unemployment compensation matters related to first amendment claims in a § 1983 case), appeal filed, No. 93-1278 (3d Cir. Mar. 29, 1993) (appealing the underlying liability verdict). Also, where counsel has raised alternative legal theories from the same core of facts, the court's ultimate rejection of one of the legal theories does not mandate a reduction of the fee. See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435. The Court finds that the claims asserted by plaintiff in this case were sufficiently legally and factually related that it would be impossible to unscramble them post facto. Therefore, although plaintiff prevailed on only one of her multiple theories, i.e., wrongful eviction, the Court will not reduce counsel's fee request for that reason alone.

15. There is no question that in a legal sense, however, plaintiff achieved only partial or limited success. To put it plainly, plaintiff's ambitious constitutional grasp fell victim of her inadequate factual reach. The Court did not order plaintiff reinstated to her public housing unit (the initial request having been withdrawn by plaintiff prior to the trial), did not award treble damages under the Unfair Trade Practices Law, and did not award punitive damages as initially requested by plaintiff. In a larger sense, the case did not cause the enjoinment of an unlawful practice by a public agency or otherwise implicate public policy objectives. Only compensatory damages in the relatively modest amount of $ 3,072 were awarded to plaintiff.
*fn7"

Our website includes the main text of the court's opinion but does not include the
docket number, case citation or footnotes. Upon purchase, docket numbers and/or
citations allow you to research a case further or to use a case in a legal proceeding.
Footnotes (if any) include details of the court's decision.

Buy This Entire Record For
$7.95

Official citation and/or docket number and footnotes (if any) for this case available with purchase.